Sleep Paralysis

[thesummerqueen]

Most articles I've read about lucid dreams say they take practice.

[reverendjeremiah]

Most articles I've read about lucid dreams say they take practice.

That is true..you need to be able to see the clues that you are dreaming. As soon as you spot them you instantly know you are dreaming and can do anything.

Best way to do it is keep a dream journal and write down everything you can remember, even though its insginificant. When people dream, they usually dream about certain specific things every night. Once you start becoming aware of these things then everytime you see them you ask yourself if you are dreaming. Eventually you will ask yourself and realize that you are.

[Ubermensch]

I know what the clues are, I just have trouble reaching that level of awareness.

[reverendjeremiah]

I know what the clues are, I just have trouble reaching that level of awareness.

Okay. Here is what you do. Whenever you see the clues, immediately try to find something to read. The parts of your brain that handle math and letters tend to either be almost shut down or completely shut down when you are dreaming. So if you are dreaming, and you try to read something, the letters and numbers look more like heiroglyphs instead of english. Letters and numbers also look fuzzy and tend to vibrate, move, dance or swirl around.

Now that you know this, the next time you see the signs, look for something to read, and CONSCIOUSLY look for this secondary sign. When you look at the letters or numbers, ask yourself in your mind if you are dreaming. It should work. It did for me.

Here is another thing that I used to speed up the process. Every now and then look at the palms of both of your hands and ask yourself if you are dreaming. If you realize you are looking down at yourself looking at your hands, then you are dreaming. If you hands look fuzzy, vibrating, or transparent then you are dreaming. When you are dreaming, the concept of "self" and "others" tend to be greatly blurred together. This is because the ENTIRE landscape in the dream, the trees, the floor, everything you see, the other people..are all YOU. It is something that your brain has created. So the ego blends into the entire dreamscape to where you can often find yourself "looking down" on yourself and watching yourself do things.

I would also suggest that you have a plan on what you want to do AFTER you realize you are dreaming. Set your practice. Keep your eyes open for the signs. Verify that the signs are correct. Then accomplish a goal. If you follow these steps, I bet it will happen for you. Walk through a wall? Fly? Shoot fire balls out of your hands? Give yourself a simple and single goal. Once you attain that goal in dreamscape you will find that you quickly get the hang of it. The first thing I thought when I realized I was in dreamscape was "I'm dreaming. I can do anything!" SO I ran through the wall of my room, through the walls of the room next door and came through the outer wall and began to fly very high into the sky. I turned over on my back, spread my arms and legs out wide and free fell down to the ground and through the earth. It was wonderful.

Then again I have read about some people who cannot do it no matter how hard they try, and they therefore think that the ones who CAN do it are pulling their legs, making stuff up for attention, etc... Lucid dreaming is very steeped in your own personal psychology, fears, etc.. be prepaired to confront your inner demons within a matter of days after you learn how to "wake up" in your dreams..because they WILL present themselves to you in the dreamscape.

The biggest test is to look at yourself in a dream mirror.

[Meatball]

reverendjeremiah knows whats up.

Dream journals and reality testing are the two biggest tools. It's not actually difficult to get into lucid dreaming, it just takes some really simple training. I did it for maybe 2 weeks and was have lucid dreams by the end of that. I've been meaning to get back into it, actually.

[reverendjeremiah]

reverendjeremiah knows whats up.

Dream journals and reality testing are the two biggest tools. It's not actually difficult to get into lucid dreaming, it just takes some really simple training. I did it for maybe 2 weeks and was have lucid dreams by the end of that. I've been meaning to get back into it, actually.

I go in and out of my wants of being lucid..sometimes I go a few months not caring about being lucid, then I get back into the kick again. When I want to get back into it, now that I know the signs and how to check, I just look at my palms and think to myself "am I dreaming" every now and then, and within a day or 2 I am right back in full Lucid dreaming almost every night..that is, until I get tired of it..then Im back off of it again.

[Ubermensch]

Okay. Here is what you do. Whenever you see the clues, immediately try to find something to read. The parts of your brain that handle math and letters tend to either be almost shut down or completely shut down when you are dreaming. So if you are dreaming, and you try to read something, the letters and numbers look more like heiroglyphs instead of english. Letters and numbers also look fuzzy and tend to vibrate, move, dance or swirl around.

These things I know. I just have trouble recognising them for what they are. Additionally, sometimes when I go to read something it seems perfectly legible. I scrutinised a clock recently in a dream and I recall being able to read the time.

[8BitAtheist]

About 8 days ago I had some sleep for the first time in a couple of days, , I had had a nightmare about nuclear war (it's harder for me to control my dream when it's a nightmare for some reason) I forced myself awake and as I opened my eyes I could see the outside from my window. The skies were all reddish/orange and looked like they were burning. Scared the shit out of me, I couldn't move. Don't know if I could count that as sleep paralysis or not but goddamn the waking up was scarier than the dream.

[reverendjeremiah]

Okay. Here is what you do. Whenever you see the clues, immediately try to find something to read. The parts of your brain that handle math and letters tend to either be almost shut down or completely shut down when you are dreaming. So if you are dreaming, and you try to read something, the letters and numbers look more like heiroglyphs instead of english. Letters and numbers also look fuzzy and tend to vibrate, move, dance or swirl around.

These things I know. I just have trouble recognising them for what they are. Additionally, sometimes when I go to read something it seems perfectly legible. I scrutinised a clock recently in a dream and I recall being able to read the time.

Every book I have ever read about lucidity have also made a point to mention that sometimes, there are certain people that just cant do it no matter how hard they try. You might be one of them. The books have specifically said that becoming Lucid is not 100% guarenteed. They also talk of some herb extracts they might help you become lucid. I have always wanted to try them (to lengthen my lucid time), but they say that some people who thought they could never control their dreams said they had success when they tried the herbs. All I can say is Im no psychologist, doctor, or dream specialist. So if you buy this stuff, then buyer beware. And if it works, let me know. Do you have any books on lucid dreaming?

---

About 8 days ago I had some sleep for the first time in a couple of days, , I had had a nightmare about nuclear war (it's harder for me to control my dream when it's a nightmare for some reason) I forced myself awake and as I opened my eyes I could see the outside from my window. The skies were all reddish/orange and looked like they were burning. Scared the shit out of me, I couldn't move. Don't know if I could count that as sleep paralysis or not but goddamn the waking up was scarier than the dream.

There are some websites you can go to where they have dream research people who can answer your questions, because I cant explain why nightmares make it harder for you. When I learned to become Lucid all of my nightmares stopped because now when I go into a nightmare I know it is just so unreal I have to be dreaming. And then I STOP the nightmares.

Thats the funny thing with sleep paralysis. It is hard for YOU to know if you are suffering from it. It takes a second person to verify wether your eyes were open or not. Just from the description it sounds like sleep paralysis..hard to breath, cant move, scary imagery, and usually waking up from them can shock your system for a good 5 or 10 minutes with you questioning wether you are really awake or still dreaming.

[8BitAtheist]

I'm sure I wasn't still asleep when I saw the sky through the window and couldn't move. It felt just like any other case of sleep paralysis I've had and anyway, the the clouds were actually really that colour.. It looked like summer, so it would be a very wild coincidence for me to have hallucinated the sky and for it to turn out to be the same! hahaha